President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump took part in the NORAD Santa Claus calls on Wednesday night.
The Trumps will spend Christmas and New Year’s at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s private club in West Palm Beach, Florida. However, they took time on Christmas Eve to entertain several children with the holiday tradition.
While the first lady used the phone headset to conduct her Christmas business, the president opted for the speakerphone, as he said it was better for the live feed.
“We track Santa all over the world. We want to make sure that Santa is being good,” the president said during one exchange with a child from Oklahoma. “We want to make sure that he’s not infiltrating — that we’re not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa. So we found out that Santa is good. Santa loves you.”
A subsequent caller, a young girl from North Carolina, made the president chuckle with a question about what would happen if she did not leave out Santa’s preferred snack: milk and cookies.
“I think he won’t get mad, but I think he’ll be very disappointed. You know Santa, he tends to be a little bit on the cherubic side. You know what that means? You’re big, a little on the heavy side,” the president responded with a laugh. “I think Santa would like some cookies. I think Santa has a serious appetite.”
The president appeared to confuse one young girl, who told him that she did not want to find coal under the Christmas tree and was hoping for Barbie and American Girl dolls instead.
“Well, you mean clean, beautiful coal. I had to do that. I’m sorry,” Trump responded, earning laughs from the room. “Coal is clean and beautiful. Please remember that at all costs.”
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You can watch the president’s calls in full below.
